The Daemon's Curse: Warhammer Chronicles, Book 1

Darkblade #1

by Dan Abnett

The Chronicles of Malus Darkblade Book 1

Ambitious dark elf warrior Malus Darkblade leads an expedition into the dangerous Chaos Wastes, but finds far more than he had bargained for.

LISTEN TO IT BECAUSE

Adapted and expanded from the classic graphic novel, the saga of the most ambitious, treacherous and downright sneaky dark elf around (and that's saying something!) begins here.

THE STORY

When Malus Darkblade learns the location of a powerful relic, he decides he wants it for himself. Malus leads an expedition into the dangerous Chaos Wastes in search of this great weapon but finds far more than he had bargained for. Possessed by a powerful daemon, he must undertake an epic quest to save his very soul.

Written by Dan Abnett and Mike Lee. Narrated by Andrew James Spooner. Running time is 11 hours and 12 minutes (approx).

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Dark Fantasy, High Fantasy, Audiobook, Epic Fantasy, Science Fiction Fantasy

Audible Audio

First published June 7, 2005

Reviews

[Federico DN · Rating 4 out of 5]

An exceptionally evil villain, and a desperate mad quest to recover some long lost relic.

In this novel we learn the beginnings of "Malus Darkblade", a druchii, a dark elf. One of many sons of Lurhan, Lord of Hag Graef. Cruel, manipulative, backstabbing, Malus is everything that a dark elf is expected to be, and more! Heartless, unscrupulous, cunning and resourceful, capable of betraying friends or family without a blink, or doing the unthinkable to achieve his personal goals for power.

Returning from a successful raiding expedition, his party gets ambushed and loses all the spoils to an unknown group of bandits. Shamed, empty handed, nearly beheaded by his own father, Malus pledges his life to recover an invaluable long lost relic from some forgotten location in the middle of the Chaos Wastelands. An all likely suicide mission. An impossible mad quest to recover the lost treasures, regain his honor, and maybe, just maybe, save his own neck; if he somehow manages to survive to return back.

One of my first villain novels, first of five. A very, very interesting read, highly enjoyable. It's Warhammer Fantasy so you can expect an exceptionally violent tolkienesque world filled with fast paced action, brutal fights, gore and so on. A true rollercoaster of gripping desperate situations one after the other. Malus is not a likable character (at all!), he is one ruthless evil bastard, but you have to admire the guy's tenacity to survive even stacked with all odds against him. He is one relentless vicious sonofan.. elf.

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PERSONAL NOTE :
[2005] [416p] [Fantasy] [Recommendable]
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★★★★☆ 1. The Daemon's Curse
★★★☆☆ 2. Bloodstorm [3.5]
★★★★☆ 3. Reaper of Souls
★★★☆☆ 4. Warpsword [3.5]
★★★★★ 5. Lord of Ruin

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Un villano excepcionalmente malvado, y una loca desesperada misión para recuperar una reliquia perdida.

En esta novela conocemos los principios de "Malus Darkblade", un druchii, un elfo oscuro. Uno de varios hijos de Lurhan, Señor de Hag Graef. Cruel, manipulador, traicionero, Malus es todo lo que uno puede esperar de un elfo oscuro, ¡y más! Despiadado, inescrupuloso, astuto e ingenioso, capaz de traicionar amigos y familia sin dudarlo, o hacer lo impensable con tal de alrcanzar sus ansias de poder.

Regresando de una exitosa expedición de asalto, su compañía es emboscada y pierde todo el botín a manos de un desconocido grupo de bandidos. Deshonrado, con las manos vacías, casi decapitado por su propio padre, Malus jura su vida a recuperar una invaluable reliquia perdida de un olvidado lugar en el medio de las malditas Tierras del Caos. Una muy segura expedición suicida. Una imposiblemente loca misión para recuperar los tesoros perdidos, recuperar su honor, y tal vez, sólo tal vez, salvar su propio cuello; si de alguna forma logra sobrevivir por supuesto.

Una de mis primeras novelas de villanos, la primera de cinco. Una lectura muy, muy interesante, altamente disfrutable. Es fantasía Warhammer así que podés esperar un mundo tolkienesque excepcionalmente violento y lleno de mucha acción, peleas brutales, sangre y demás. Una verdadera montaña rusa de desesperadas y atrapantes situaciones una detrás de la otra. Malus no es un personaje querible (¡para nada!), es un malvado bastardo despiadado, pero tenés que admirar la tenacidad del muchacho para sobrevivir incluso contra todas las probabilidades agrupadas en su contra. Es un incansable y despiadado hijo de.. elfo.

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NOTA PERSONAL :
[2005] [416p] [Fantasía] [Recomendable]
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[Kris43 · Rating 5 out of 5]

I needed a few days for my impressions of this book to settle before writing this review.

This is a very dark and disturbing book. If you're familiar with Warhammer fantasy, you'll know about dark elves, the Druchii. They are not your standard loving, tree hugging do-gooder elves. Druchii are a vicious, brutal, insanely ambitious and treacherous society.

How vicious?
They have a annual gathering at the palace, where they bring gifts to the ruler and are subjected to ritual torture. Some die at this event, for various reasons. Like for not bringing the right gifts, not showing the right respect, as a political statement to the rulers enemies... The event is also considered a prime time to murder your rivals.
That vicious.

Malus is a highborn Druchii. He is also a bastard, that's how he got the Darkblade part of his name. In his family, he has a low standing and naturally goes out of his way to improve it. So he goes behind his family back and organizes a raiding expedition. Its a huge success! His risk pays off and he basks in the glory only to be brutally betrayed by somebody who had inside information on his movements.

So he goes home in disgrace, is subjected to worse case of ritual torture ever and finds a assassin in his quarters waiting for him....All in all he decides its time for desperate acts, so he goes and does just that.

The book was great and i loved it.
It had just the right amount of horrible things happening mixed with the real possibility of huge success. Along with some great, brutal action, and a lot of gore. The whole time Malus is put into one desperate situation after another. A lot of times he comes out the victor, but just barely. The whole thing had a general feeling of slipping, unstoppable dive, going deeper into he abyss.

I liked Malus, a lot of people don't.
Malus is tenacious, he has a unrelenting will to survive and to succeed. He knows all odds are against him, but still he fights. I respect that. If you need your characters to be nice and kind, you will not like him. But then again nice and kind characters wouldn't survive long in his situation.

[Merewyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well... 3.5

The characterization was fun and the action was plentiful (and quite gory too).
Reading about an evil main character and his evil race was oddly enjoyable😅.
But... Well, some of the scenes were breaking the suspension of disbelief for me and that wasn't any fun 😐. I mean Malus doesn't have Wolverine's healing/regeneration powers (a la Marvel comics universe) - yet he kept getting mortally wounded and injured but wouldn't die ... Apparently due to rather thick plot armor rather than some in-universe logical justification😑. Which seemed like a cheap copout to me while I read😪.
😊Still - on the main - 😏this is a peculiarly fun book in which you will find yourself wanting the lead character to both fail and succeed at the same time😆. Lol🤗

[Nikki · Rating 3 out of 5]

As the very first dark fantasy novel that I've read, I'm not sure how it compares to its fellows. However, this is a very dark, dark, DARK book. It is unsympathetically morbid, terrible, and twisted.

Our heroes are merciless, full of hate, and love to kill and inflict pain. At first, I shuddered. In the wake of such horror I found myself wishing for a hint of humanity. However, once I realised that there would be no relatable characters (and got through the 10th scene of them sliding in each other's blood and entrails), I was desensitized and had an easier time getting into the story.

Pros:
- Exciting and intriguing settings (ie. The Willow Hag and Hag Graef)

- Very detailed culture, customs, and back story for the Druchii

- Well-written and darkly fascinating

- Tz'Arkan's sarcastic humour (This is a real high point for me! I was expecting a very formal, ancient voice for this daemon and his laid back way of speaking/the informal way Malus and him converse ("Shut up!") made for a much needed comic break. I very much hope this continues!)

Cons:
- Jarring gap that isn't fully accounted for between prologue and ch.1

- Too reliant on gory and lengthy fight scenes to fill space

- Not even a small spark of humanity to counter the darkness

- Story drags a bit at times, despite the fast-paced plot

In any case, this book is pretty good and I did have fun reading it. I definitely recommend it to lovers of dark fantasy, but for regular readers of sword and sorcery fantasy, I would be a bit more hesitant. It's certainly not for everyone!

And so, with the beautiful image of Malus roasting and eating someone's heart in my mind's eye, I will continue onwards to Bloodstorm!

[Tamás Végh · Rating 3 out of 5]

After a great start, the books quickly becomes a boring journey of our anti-hero Malus. Would have preferred the cast to stay at Hag Graef. The druchii intrigue was interesting in the city, but after the first few chapters the book devolves into action after action after mindless action. The scenes are well written, but the story is just not interesting enough.

[Simon · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wanted to like this a lot more than I did, because Dan Abnett is usually good. But this...

Malus walks down the hall, FIGHT SCENE! Malus opens the door, FIGHT SCENE! Malus pauses to sneeze, FIGHT SCENE! Malus sighs and tries to continue to the bathroom, FIGHT SCENE!

And honestly? It got really boring really quickly. I hope volume 2 improves significantly.

[Student Teacher · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been into reading Warhammer Fantasy, even though I've had a hard time getting into the actual game (regardless of the fact that I have a fully painted Dwarf Army).

A buddy of mine let be barrow the first couple of Malus Darkblade Omnibus books, and I finished the first book, The Daemon's Curse, a while back.

I don't usually like the evil-oriented books, I'm pretty sure I'm Lawful-Good at heart. There have been some notable exceptions to this (Storm of Iron), but usually I just can't get behind the evil guys.

Malus Darkblade is different. Unlike Talos in Soul Hunter, Malus is an evil bastard. He has no problem with killing anyone that gets in his way, and if happens to be a member of his family, all the better. Malus is starts out the story in a rather hard spot, all of the slaves he has collected in the last year, have been killed and the backers of his voyage to the old world, will not be pleased. Through some twists and turns, Malus heads out into the chaos wastes in search for, well hes not sure, but he is damn sure that he wants to get it before anyone else does!

This was a very fun story. Although Malus is evil, there is a lot of humor in this book (all of it, oddly enough, dark humor). Through many trials and tribulations, Malus does reach his objective and gets way more than he bargains for! I'm not really go into too much more of the story other than the fact, that my favorite part in the book is when Malus exits the temple with his "treasure" is the best scene in pretty much any WHFB book.

I give this four nauglir's feasting on quickly cooling corpses out of five.

[Vicente Ribes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Prometedor primer libro de esta pentalogía sobre los elfos oscuros del universo warhammer. Es un buen libro de fantasía cuyo personaje principal derrocha carisma y maldad por partes iguales. Aquí el héroe de la historia es inmoral y solo persigue el poder sin ningún cargo de conciencia. La sociedad de los elfos oscuros está muy bien retratada, un sistema donde las casas nobles están en costante lucha por ser los más poderosos del reino( algo que nos recuerda mucho a los libros sobre los drow de R.A. Salvatore).
Para ser el primer libro de esta saga no está nada mal, se lee del tirón y te deja con ganas de más.

[Tam · Rating 1 out of 5]

Lo úniconque vale la pena es el primer capítulo.

[Shane · Rating 1 out of 5]

Okay, first, I only read to page 40 of this dark, excessively gory, tale. The "hero" is a dark elf who in the opening scene is transporting by ship a human cargo of slaves. Apparently, one of the slaves had promised to do "anything" so that her betrothed could go free. So the entire crew of cretins does what they want with her. The "hero", Malus Darkblade, drags her betrothed up to the deck and gives him what's left of her--her face which has been peeled off. Then laughs about it and throws the quivering slave to his death in the teeming dark waters.

I've gotta have a hero I can like. I've gotta have a story that leaves the "spilled intestines, pieces of crushed bone, and brain matter" on the cutting room floor and leaves a little to my imagination. Sorry, Abnet. Ravenor was good (though even toward the end of that series, the gore factor was higher than it should've been--at least I could like the characters), but this tripe should be shoved in a pool of ichor, never to see a return trip to the light of day.

If I could've given zero stars, I would've.

[Pauli · Rating 5 out of 5]

Daemon's Curse tells about a dark elf who desires power. In the beginning of the story, Malus returns from a slave raid on Bretonnia(a fiefdom of the Humans), but his slaves are killed by ambusher. He returns to Hag Graef (his home city)empty handed. An assassin tries to kill him but fails. Malus suspects the merchants who he loaned money to him are responsible. He then seeks his sister's aid to gain power or money fast. She tells him of a hidden temple in the Chaos Wastes, which Malus' half-brother, Urial, possesses. He steals the object and heads to the Chaos Wastes.
I enjoyed this book emmensly, because of the fast paced action, mystery and betrayal in the novel. I find Malus doing things that i might do in his circumstances and the way he plans his moves and gets out of sticky situations is very clever. This book is for people who like fantasy and the Warhammer World

[Jake · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book, but I couldn't finish it. I got about 3/4 of the way thru, but then I just couldn't read further.

This story has several interesting components, but I think it would have made a much stronger short story, 40-50 pages tops, in and out. It basically introduces Malus Darkblade's goal, but then he ends up fighting new person, after new person, after new person on his way to his goal. There is next to no character interaction and development in the story.

Even more annoying, the action sort of felt ridiculously repetitive, malus gets smacked around, does a sneaky attack, Spit chomps on things, rinse repeat.

I have read many of the Black Library books, and I think this was one of the worst. I will not be reading further in the series. If you want to read about the Dark Elves do yourself a favor and just read the Sundering trilogy.

[Sergio Armisén · Rating 4 out of 5]

Esto es un libro que podría llamarse de "explotación", libros que se escriben alrededor de películas, series, juguetes... este en concreto alrededor de un juego de mesa al que nunca he jugado. La verdad es que esperaba muy poco de él y es sorprendentemente entretenido: tiene el sabor de la literatura pulp de toda la vida pero actualizada. La historia narra las andanzas de un druchii: una especie de elfo malvado, sanguinario y pervertido que -ojo al detalle-se llama Malus, jaajaj. Es el primer volumen de una serie de 5 y voy a por el segundo. Lo dicho: no es gran literatura, ni muy profunda y a veces, puede resultar excesivamente sangriento y violento, pero ameno si te va este rollo de la fantasía y estás un poco hart@ con los héroes buenísimos.

[Nima · Rating 4 out of 5]

hű, ez aztán jó volt. izgalmas, sötét, kegyetlen, és igazából 4,5 csillag.

[Mark · Rating 1 out of 5]

Got bored with this!

[Jason Ray Carney · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first novel in the Malus Darkblade series. Malus is a "druchii," a dark elf. The dark elves of the Warhammer Fantasy setting are similar to the Drow of Dungeons and Dragons but are irreedemably evil and decadent. In fact, the "druchii" are more like Michael Moorcock's "Melnibonéans." Like Moorcock's creation, the druchii are a society of slavers who live for pleasure and inflicting cruelty. Malus, the protagonist of this novel, is a druchii through and through. It was odd reading a novel with a truly evil protagonist. You can't cheer for him but Abnett and Lee are able to render him interesting enough to enthrall you. As a Warhammer novel, this is very good. A lot of the druchii and "beastman" lore is brought to life, and you get to experience some cool Warhammer places, like the chaos wastes. I do think Malus is very similar to Elric of Melniboné. Abnett and Lee clearly drew inspiration from that character. I'm looking forward to book 2, *Bloodstorm.*

[Folkert Hogenberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

a bit slow to start and get into, but once you get into it it is a really entertaining read.

[Lee Parry · Rating 2 out of 5]

As much as I enjoyed the sketching out of Dark Elf society and the fact that the protagonist was an unrepentantly evil bastard, the book reads like a description of someone levelling up a World of Warcraft character. Malus is described as 'clever' and 'devious', but he has almost no agency and simply reacts to the plans of those around him. He's also extremely dim-witted and does idiotic things on a constant basis, which of course he'll survive because he's the protagonist. I kept expecting him to devise some cunning way to escape one of his many predicaments, but on many occasions someone else bails him out, or else he just blindly stumbles on and everything works out. There are one or two instances where Malus does show a hint or two of cunning, but these are few and far between.

The book is slavish to its plot at the expense of everything else. Characters only exist to serve the plot, not the other way around. I found one plot point, where (minor spoilers) Malus is asked to retrieve an artifact by a hill tribe, particularly laughable -- why would they trust this total outsider from a place they despise to help them? Why not get their own people, who are established expert outdoorsmen, to do this?

Similarly, the characters survive because it's convenient to the plot. The protagonist and his mount are stabbed, shot and beaten constantly, but luckily the wounds are either not a massive inconvenience or else get magicked away. Malus and his coterie must be 'running low' on crossbow bolts for about 60% of the book, but they always have just enough left for the next fight.

**SPOILERS BELOW**

Two stars for the literal laugh-out-loud dick move towards the end of the book, though, where Malus casually murders the only person who's been loyal to him throughout the whole book. Dark elves are established dicks, so it's really only to be expected. Don't expect any good guys in this book.

[Henry · Rating 2 out of 5]

After looking into which of the Warhammer Fantasy novels to read, I had seen a lot of positive comments about Malus Darkblade. Unfortunately I found this book really disappointing.

It has a promising start and I was enjoying the intrigue between Malus and his siblings but this quickly descends into an incredibly tedious series of fight scenes once Malus flees the city about a third of the way through the book.

It's not that the fighting in this book is badly written, it's actually quite good, but I just didn't really feel any emotional weight to the outcome of any of the fights. It just seemed to be mindless violence.

I realise that Dark Elves are supposed to be violent, uncaring, evil etc. but there was absolutely nothing to balance this out and I just found it too sadistic and ultimately boring. The latter half of the book is just Malus killing everything he comes across, building NO relationships to any characters, nor does his character develop at all.

How many times can Malus be horrendously wounded and then seemingly fine within the space of minutes? There is vague mentions of potions/poisons he uses to bolster himself but it's never clearly explained how he keeps surviving these deep wounds he constantly receives. By halfway through the book I just stopped caring if he was wounded as I knew there wasn't even the slightest jeapordy to the story or his character, he would just grit his teeth and somehow keep going.

I read this as part of the chronicles version so I will try and give the next book a go as it's on my shelf. However, unless more depth is added to the story I might have to give up on this series.

I jumped between giving this 1 or 2 stars. Ultimately I have to give it 2 as it's not BAD and there are enjoyable moments. It gives some good context to the Dark Elves (especially if you play Warhammer 3 Total War a lot) but I had to force myself through much of the latter half of the book.

[Paulo "paper books only" · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first book I've read with Dark Elves as the main characters. What to expect? A lot. I bought this book and read it all together in a few days. I had already seen/read the comic book of Malus DarkBlade. And what a book it was. I had many expectations to read this book and not only it was fulfilled but increased.

This book is about a villain Malus Darkblade. A dark elf. The plot in these books is that he is so ambitious and so he learns the location of a powerful relic and decides he wants it for himself. Possessed by a powerful daemon, he must undertake an epic quest to save his very soul.
I bet that if you read the book you will hate and have strong feelings to kill him but you won't. Not 'cause you can't but 'cause you are going to be so connected by his story that you will not gonna be able to put it down and curse the writers for making him that way. Btw the Author is Dan Abnett and Mike Lee.


I like it a lot. You see Malus fighting every type of race/creature you would imagine. You see the world of Dark Elves. A treachorous and evil place. You see what ambition does to a person.

I began to like the determination of Malus and his band. This is a prelude to the comic books. The comic starts with the last battle in the place where malus is getting the prize he so desirous.
Afterwards he kills his band. The reason is ... Malus don't want them to see what he became. I think the band would follow him to the end of the world but the feelings were so great that he became totally berserk.

Well now he's got the get 5 relics to save is soul. And only have one year to do that.

[Rosalía Ruiz · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my first time into the warhammer universe and I enjoyed the sword and sorcery environment it haves. The Druchii society is greatly developed and even with its simple plot the story is attractive because of it's not so usual main protagonist; Malus. For a person like me, used to goody-two-shoes protagonists he is a breath of fresh air. If you love dark elves, sword and sorcery and deep evil guys as main characters you'll love this.

pros:
-superb ambientation
-excellent main protagonist
-great amount of action

cons
-the narrative is sometimes a little slow and flows like a roller coaster: it gets high in action just for going down suddenly.
-side characters aren't that well developed as our main character (but they feel complete and no one is there just to fill some space. )

my full review:
http://inkgladio.blogspot.com/2016/01...

[Matthew Gilliland · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read 3 of the 5 books around 15 years ago and I had forgotten how much happened in the books.

This turned out to be much more than I remembered and I'm legitimately excited to actually finish the series this time.

Also the protagonist is by and far the most evil character I have come across. Most "Evil" characters have a heart of gold, not Malus. His past times include rape, torture and betraying everyone he meets.

[Tomáš Drako · Rating 5 out of 5]

Takú temnotu som veru nečakal. To aj na Warhammer. Malus, antihrdina, ktorý sa vydáva na túru k zdroju sily, ktoá mu dá jeho vysnívané postavanie v spoločnosti. Cestou sa dozvedáme, že jeho rodina má napozerané Hry o trony, lebo sa navzájom podrážajú, či dokonca ...bimbajú.
Za mna je to krásny príklad dark fantasy štýlu. Nepostrehol som nudné pasáže, akcia striedala akciu a konečný plottwist ma prinútil hneď otvorit pokračovanie. Tak sa to má robiť !

[Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Una excelente fantasía oscura, lo mejor de calle es el personaje principal Malus Darkblade. Desborda hijoputismo por todos lados. Y el worldbuilding muy bueno.

[Gilberto Garcia · Rating 5 out of 5]

¡Excelente Libro!.

[Jean-Luc · Rating 3 out of 5]

Malus Darkblade and his reavers successfully raided the Bretonnian coast. They stole lots of treasure and captured lots of slaves, but the return trip doesn't go as planned. By the time Malus reaches home, he's lost so much that the trip was essentially a net loss. In desperation, he lets his sister (who he's banging, because of course he is) convince him to steal a cursed artifact from their brother. This artifact supposedly shows the way to a treasure in the far north. And so Malus and his retainers head off to find this so-called treasure in a desperate attempt to pay off Malus' investors.

This is one of the 6 books on the USB key in the collector's edition of Total War: Warhammer 2. I had no idea Malus Darkblade has his own books! My introduction to the Darkblade was the comics serialized in Warhammer Monthly. The prose books came later, and you can tell the authors took the time to flesh out the story and make the characters less stereotypes of the "Haha I am evil! No you fool I am more evil" variety. Total War players who hadn't played Warhammer Fantasy Battles may be new to Warhammer or new to Dark Elfs, and this book is a perfect introduction to both. (This book is also inexplicably the Black Library Celebration 2021 Readers' Choice Winner, so I guess waiting 3+ years to post this review made sense somehow??)

Dark Elfs are a treacherous race and with Malekith (the Witch King) and his lieutenants at the top of Druchii society, and everyone else fighting to earn their favor. It is beyond stupid and an excellent example of why elfs are diminishing in general. But that stupidity is half the fun! Anytime Malus interacts with anyone, you know he's going to betray them... but that other party is also planning to betray Malus! The whole book is a race to see whose betrayal will succeed and what the counter-betrayal will look like. I love it!

And then there's the daemon. From the Warhammer Monthly comics, we know all about the daemon and its curse, but in this book there's very little indication of what's about to happen. When Malus blunders into the trap, even though we the readers know all about the trap, it's still great! And as the book ends, we giggle with glee, because how can Malus possibly betray his way out of this??

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Two years ago I read my first Warhammer fantasy book called Blood for the Blood God by CL Werner, and I did not like it at all. As a result I put off Warhammer books for a long time and I did not revisit this grimdark universe. However I always had The Daemon's Curse on my shelf and so recently when I was clearing my bookshelf I decided to give this book a try.

And I was surprised!

The Daemon's Curse tells the story of one Malus Darkblade, a bastard son to a noble in the evil dark elf society. Malus is a grade-A villain and I do not like him (a villain protagonist is not meant to be likable anyway). However as I progressed with the book I was amazed by his tenacity as he overcame wave after wave of impossible odd. It suffices to say while I do not like Malus but the guy is a memorable character. This book is very dark and very violent, almost every character in this book betrayed Malus sooner or later while he also played and dispensed them like pawns on the chess board. Not a single character in this book has redeemable quality. However I could not stop reading this book because the story and the characters are so gripping and the actions so exciting. Most grimdark fantasy books feature protagonists whose moral compass point to shades of grey, but Malus Darkblade's heart is stygian black and he is fueled by pure hatred. This makes him a rare protagonist even in the grimdark genre. I enjoyed reading this book and I am going to read the entire series. Most importantly, maybe I finally discovered my entrance to the dark and violent world of Warhammer fantasy where many epic tales and legends await.

[Lee Broderick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dark Elves (well, Elves, actually) have never really appealed to me but I mentioned in my review of Riders of the Dead that Dan Abnett's reputation as one of the better Games Workshop IP writer was deserved, I thought I'd give this a go. I mean, it could really be any worse than the Gotrek books, could it?

As far as those comparisons go, what they show is that however much a theme may appeal, poor writing will dash those hopes. Good writing, or even adequate writing, however, can have the opposite effect. The Warhammer world is (or was) dark fantasy turned up to eleven. Everything's so ridiculous, so dark, that it's almost a parody. The dark elves are perhaps the greatest example of this and I hadn't bothered with them much before but Abnett's writing made their world seem interesting.

Abnett achieved something remarkable here, that I'm not sure I've experienced before - as I was reading the book, I wanted to read on and find out what happened but, the moment it was over, I ceased to think about it. That suggests his writing skill is such that it can captivate me but not really enough to make me think. I do think this is a good example of modern Sword and Sorcery fiction and I will read the others in the series but it's certainly not on a level with the greats of the genre.

[Billisonthewagon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Essentially, this is a dark elf road trip book where we follow the pov of Malus as he travels to find the truth about a magical artifact. It gives an interesting perspective on a very evil race. And to be clear, Malus is evil. This ain't Drizzt, and he's not even an anti-hero. He does foul things quite regularly with only tiniest glimpses here and there of any humanity. But, you do kind of root for Malus as he goes on his journey and meets against forces that are at least as evil as him, and time and time again out smarts them at their own treahcery. This was probably my favorite Warhammer book so far. Lots of fun fantasy elements mixed in with all the dark, brooding evil that made it consistently exciting to read and see what would happen next, and there are at least a few truly shocking moments. I could see it potentially getting a bit oppressive reading books from someone this evil without taking a break, there is just very little humanity there to grasp onto, but it worked really well as a temporary diversion into the pov of a race of beings you don't normally see explored.

[Lanfear · Rating 4 out of 5]

Aunque he leído mucho de Warhammer 30k y 40k un poco menos, no soy muy conocedor de warhammer fantasy, las únicas interacciones han sido con la pésima y aburrida trilogía de los condes vampiros, una de las peores experiencias que he tenido con la literatura fantástica. Dicho esto, he jugado videojuegos ambientados en la época y se más o menos el mapa y los reinos que hay, aunque no tenía ni idea la sociedad y la cultura de los elfos oscuros. La aventura en sí está bien, no es nada complicado ni original, pero a mi me gusta y confío tanto en Dan Abnett como en Mike Lee, he leído novelas suyas de la herejía de Horus. La conclusión es que es divertido de leer porque Malus como su nombre indica, es un elfo malo, cruel y traicionero. Por esto, como no muchas veces se puede disfrutar de este tipo e personajes, se puede disfrutar de sus aventuras.
Hay quien compara a Malus con mi archienemigo, ese tal Elric, ese sucio elfo albino sin cerebro. Yo solo digo que me gustaría comprar todos los ejemplares existentes de los libros de ese imbecil solo para quemarlos, para que nadie pueda leer ese acto de terrorismo.